Next Up For ‘Criminal Minds’ Star Thomas Gibson: Dharma And Greg?

When CBS announced it was picking up Criminal Minds for a 13th season earlier this month, it was a bittersweet moment for fans of actor Thomas Gibson.

The long-running crime drama just hasn’t been the same since Gibson was given his walking papers shortly after Season 12 began filming last August. However, as long as Criminal Minds is on the air, there is a chance that Gibson could return as fan-favorite Aaron Hotchner. After all, Shemar Moore just made the surprise announcement that he will be returning to the show for the Season 12 finale.

However, as exciting as the thought of Thomas Gibson returning to Criminal Minds is, he may end up landing on another project from his past: Dharma & Greg.

Gibson’s former D&G co-star, Jenna Elfman has been touting the possibility of bringing back the popular ABC comedy. In an interview with People, the 45-year-old actress said she started pushing for the show’s return last year.

“It would be really fun!” Elfman gushed.

“I actually brought it up like a year ago. I was like, ‘Guys, do you want to do anything again?!’ But Thomas was busy [with Criminal Minds]. He’s not on the show anymore, so maybe it’ll come up again. I have no idea.”

She also recalled running into Thomas Gibson when he was still on Criminal Minds.

“Like, I saw him at a park, because I was taking my kids to the park, ” she said.

“He was filming on location at the park that day… And so he came over when he was done and pushed my kids on the swing while we had a chat and caught up.”

Elfman recently talked to Yahoo TV about how much fun she had on Dharma & Greg, too.

“Oh, I loved Dharma & Greg. It was truly a deeply pleasurable five years of my life.”

While there are no firm plans yet in place to bring Dharma & Greg back, the show’s 20th anniversary is coming up, and Thomas Gibson expressed interest in doing “a comedy or a play” when he spoke to People after his firing from Criminal Minds.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, Gibson was terminated from Criminal Minds after he allegedly kicked writer and producer Virgil Williams while shooting an early episode in Season 12.

“We were shooting a scene late one night when I went to Virgil and told him there was a line that I thought contradicted an earlier line,” Gibson said in the interview. “He said, ‘Sorry, it’s necessary, and I absolutely have to have it.'”

The actor then described the physical confrontation that got him into hot water.

“[Williams] came into that room and started coming towards me. As he brushed past me, my foot came up and tapped him on the leg. If I hadn’t moved, he would have run into me. We had some choice words, for which I apologized the next day, and that was it. It was over. We shot the scene, I went home — and I never got to go back.”

Thomas Gibson ended the interview by expressing regret.

“I feel like it took years to make a good reputation and a minute to damage it,” he said.

Perhaps the idea of returning to a light-hearted show like Dharma & Greg and working with Elfman — who, by her warm comments, clearly enjoyed working with him — would be appealing to Gibson and help him regain some of what he’s lost.

Or maybe the rift between Thomas Gibson and Criminal Minds can be healed, and he could make an appearance in Season 13, even if it’s only long enough to give Aaron Hotchner and the fans some closure.

The move would be very similar to Shemar Moore’s temporary return as Derek Moore in the upcoming Criminal Minds finale. According to AOL Entertainment, Moore is shooting the CBS pilot, S.W.A.T., and has no plans to permanently return. However, his brief return still felt like a homecoming.

“Even though I had been gone a year, it felt like I was just there last week,” Moore said. “It was home, it was family, it was so familiar. And we just got right into it with the acting and the comraderies and the jokes.”

Could the same thing happen for Thomas Gibson? Or will he land back at ABC on a Dharma & Greg reboot? Only time will tell.

Do you think Thomas Gibson should return to Criminal Minds, or would you rather see him in Dharma & Greg? Let us know in the comments below.

The Criminal Minds Season 12 finale airs on CBS on May 10.

[Featured Image by ABC]